I captured this portrait, Fly Contact, in 2009 while volunteering for Water for People in Uganda. I’ve never publicly shared this image. Sometimes I’m not ready to present an image to the world and sometimes I don’t 100% understand why.
Today was a lovely, but odd day, one for the books of my random human connections and certainly a birthday I will remember. I revisited my work from Uganda over a year ago and this portrait is not only one my favorites from the trip, but one of my favorite images that I have ever taken. There is a lot of pressure to post for business generating content, but I didn’t want this image getting lost amongst all of that because I love this image and I wanted it to garner the pause I think it deserves. With the shutdown, I had plenty of time to post, but something held me back, but today felt like the day to finally share this image…
For me, this image is about human connection. It’s about why I wanted to be a photographer and about the random, yet lovely encounters I’ve had with people all around the world. We humans are meant to connect. I’ve always felt energized by genuine heartfelt human connection. There are amazing studies being done on the electromagnetic signals of the heart and their capacity to affect others around them. The world is functioning in a state of fear, hate, depression, anger and anxiety right now. Imagine if we all turned our hearts towards genuine human connectedness… imagine the power that would have on the state of the world at this moment.
This image was a moment of connection so strong, the world around me went quiet.
I’ve always been a connector. I’m energized by people. I need connection to thrive. This isolation, along with the destruction of a business I worked so hard to build, and a world that seems to be ripping apart at the seams, has been hard. Each day things seem to get heavier. With my work with Water For People, I was surveying in remote villages with two Ugandan teammates who could speak the dialects of the areas we visited. I was the first white person some children had ever seen. Some were excited, one was so scared he ran away crying. I was a stranger entering their village. Someone so different in dress, in color, in the tools I carried… while the woman in this portrait and I did not speak the same language we could have communicated via my teammate, but while others around us were busy with logistics, I just wanted to be a human connecting with another human, a woman connecting with another woman, and I could see she was open to connecting with me. Without words I asked for her permission to take her picture. Without words, she obliged. I took two frames without asking her to pose in any manner. Without words, I thanked her and, without words, she accepted.
What I love about this image is her stillness. Americans are hyper-focused on their image, adjusting themselves prior to any image. You can go out in public and watch people contorting their bodies in stupid ways to appeal to the camera. This woman looked straight at me with a most gentle smile and amazing stillness and a confidence I wish I had when looking into a camera lens. While editing, I noticed there was a fly on her forehead. My first instinct, a muscle memory from working in the wedding industry, was to remove the fly, but I stopped myself because it was a part of the power of her stillness. My hope is that this image provokes a stillness in others- not inaction, but an absence of chaos. I hope some people scrolling stop to look into her eyes and feel the stillness, appreciate the confidence and find themselves gently smiling back at her smile because that is exactly how I felt when I met this woman, as I photographed her and when I look at this image.
I often hold onto things to write or share until the moment moves me. While you can find notebooks of research on my desk on the most unexpected topics, some things just come from my heart when they are ready. As a creative, there is a pressure to constantly outdo yourself, constantly create strong content, constantly try to lead the pack or climb to the top. That’s not realistic. I am a human being who has ups and downs, who is inspired and uninspired, who is energized and exhausted….but human connection and stillness…we could all use a lot more of that right now.
You can see my original four blogs from my trip by clicking here.
